Podcast: The A, B, C & D’s of Science Fiction

We here at Across the Margin remain in awe of the stars that fill our skies, weary yet excited about technology, and unsure and curious about the future. In this second installment of Beyond The Margin, we officially out ourselves as nerds of the highest order as we dedicate the entirety of a podcast to sing the praises of one of our favorite literary genres, Science Fiction. Presenting, “The A, B, C & D’s of Science Fiction,” an ode to the authors who birthed the genre such as Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, and Phillip K. Dick. In this, our latest podcast, we take you on a journey through the dawn of Science Fiction and pointedly, to the present, with a series of discussions and readings which highlight the sophistication and poignancy of the genre.

“The A, B, C, D’s of Science Fiction” features an interview with one of our favorite emerging Science Fiction authors, Rajan Khanna. Rajan is the author of a post-apocalyptic thriller entitled Falling Sky, which we discuss and dissect in this latest episode of our podcast, and his short fiction has appeared in Lightspeed Magazine, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Shimmer, and several anthologies. Rajan’s articles and reviews have appeared at Tor.com and LitReactor.com and his podcast narrations can be heard at Podcastle, Escape Pod, PseudoPod, Beneath Ceaseless Skies and Lightspeed Magazine. Rajan currently lives in New York City where he’s a member of the Altered Fluid writing group and he oftentimes wonders if being a professional podcast guest could be an actual thing. Falling Sky is as impressive of a debut novel that you will come upon and there is a sequel well in the works. We are huge fans of his writing, and are confident that if you pick Rajan’s novel up, you won’t be able to put it down until every last page has been extinguished. You can grab a copy of the exciting Falling Skyhere!

To commence the podcast, an excerpt of Kurt Vonnegut’s masterpiece Slaughterhouse-Five is employed to set the tone for the literary odyssey and discussions that follows1. In the podcast’s second act we get down to business with Rajan and discuss the wonders and challenges of world building in storytelling, the struggles of finding balance when writing a first-person narrative, the jokes behind the naming of characters and places and most importantly, where in the post-apocalyptic world that he created can a guy get a decent beer. It’s one hell of an interview, and Rajan drops a hint or two about his upcoming sequel to Falling Sky, entitled Rising Tide. And finally, to close-out our podcast, Across the Margin presents the debut of a short story penned by our very own Chris Thompson, entitled The Middle Drawer. It’s a whimsical, dark tale, as if The Twilight Zone met The Office, and pits one man’s late-night boredom against his insatiable curiosity when an odd turn of events suddenly livens up his routine. What strange things come to the office space late at night….

So we invite you to listen-in and share with us our fascination with storytelling in all its forms, from the humble beginnings of a genre to a modern realization of its art, and all the places we’ll go in between. We promise it’ll be a thrilling ride. All you have to do is step off the edge, to that limitless place where the sentence ends and the story just begins, and come along with us as we dive deep, all the way Beyond the Margin!